MUST READ: WAZIRISTAN JIHADIS WAGE WAR ON EACH OTHER

Waziristan jihadis wage war on each other
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

The present bloody infighting between al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal areas is likely to end in reconciliation between the two groups that will mark the beginning of the Taliban's major Afghan offensive.

Well-placed sources maintain that the chief commander of the Taliban in South Wazirstan, Baitullah Mehsud, was in Afghanistan's Helmand province when the fighting, in which scores have died this week, erupted. He immediately rushed to South Waziristan on the orders of Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah.

He put his foot down, and the fighting has now eased. A new protocol is imminent, under which all parties will agree to fight in Afghanistan and not inside Pakistan.

How did this internecine strife in South Waziristan evolve? Is it just a battle between foreign militants and Pakistani Taliban - a clash of interests - or is it a blessing in disguise for the Taliban and a serious problem for the US-led forces in Afghanistan?

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Part of the solution

Should the Taliban be part of a solution for their sympathizers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or a constant problem? That was the debate initiated by Mullah Dadullah when he tried to mediate a ceasefire between Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistani military early last year. Dadullah has constantly argued that Pakistani Taliban going into Afghanistan and fighting against NATO forces was a greater service to Afghanistan's cause of freedom than staying in the two Waziristans and fighting Pakistani soldiers.

The dialogue convinced the leading anti-army commanders in North Waziristan, Sadiq Noor and Abdul Khaliq, and they agreed that jihad was only relevant in Afghanistan and that fighting against the Pakistan Army had no relevance to the Afghan resistance.

Al-Qaeda elements in North Waziristan, including Uzbeks settled in the town of Mir Ali, were converted to this point of view and broke with Yaldeshiv, who was living in South Waziristan and still demanding the establishment of the Islamic Emirates in Pakistan by waging jihad against "the crusaders' ally".

At present, information coming from South Waziristan suggests that Uzbeks settled in three main points, Shin Warsak, Azam Warsak and Kaloosha, have now in effect been surrounded by local Taliban. The Uzbeks are tenacious fighters, but the most likely outcome will be their surrender and agreement that from now on all fighting will be done in Afghanistan. Such unity of purpose would be a boon for the Taliban's looming offensive against NATO.


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